


No Job Is Ever As Easy As You Think

by R0gue



Series: Riko Week 2018 [4]
Category: Love Live! School Idol Project, Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Abduction, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Contract work, F/F, I Want To Expand This So Much Further, Killing, Memories, Misunderstandings, Rivals, Sneaking Around, So It Was Hard To Have The Exact Same Ones, The Characters Are Thieves, They've Had Different Lives, With A Little Magic, a little ooc, reconnecting, trickery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-07-15 17:31:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16067912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/R0gue/pseuds/R0gue
Summary: Riko is a contract Thief, assigned to break into a house and steal a necklace from a small chest in their storeroom. Sounds simple enough right? Well, it should be for someone with her skills. Unfortunately, things get a little difficult when an old face shows up.





	No Job Is Ever As Easy As You Think

**Author's Note:**

> This turned out so much more than what I'd planned it to be when I started to sit down and write it. As I went along I just kept getting more and more ideas and I have an entire world plotted out in my head, a pretty good idea of the magic system as well as a full backstory for the characters and everything. I don't think this'll be the last I write around this idea as it seems like it could turn into a full fledged novel or something similar.
> 
> Anyway I hope you enjoy!

The alleyway is a mess of overgrown weeds, crates overflowing with rotten vegetables and other waste and the only sounds that can be heard are the scurrying of rats that call this their home. It’s the sort of place that no one in their right mind would ever think to visit, making it the perfect place for someone to sneak down and not be noticed.

Riko treads carefully as she glides down between the grimy walls of the buildings; she’s almost used to the stench of weeks old food t, but it still lingers around her, threatening to overpower her if she steps too close.  _ Just one more corner.  _ Her hand tightens around the small roll of parchment that led her here in the first place.

As she rounds the final corner, she looks up, spying the open window a few stories above her and a few meters to her front. “Ssussun ur'ac.” She mutters the words under her breath and the soles of her feet start to glow for a second before quickly dimming. 

As soon as the light has dimmed, she jumps, sending herself halfway up the nearest building, which she uses as a place to push herself off and through the open window, landing with a roll into a kneeling pose. “Zahanzon.” 

She immediately starts to look around the room, her vision fading from its normal sight to one adapted to the night time. To her left, she sees the outline of a figure sleeping through a wall. Another outline seems to be pacing up and down the other side of the building. The only other outlines she can see are a group on the floor below that seem to be gathering around a table, feasting. 

Riko closes her eyes and takes a deep breath in.  _ Here goes nothing. _ She fixes her eyes on the pacing figure, gliding towards the door to her room. “Venorsh.” The door glows with a faint light and she slides it open, slipping out without making a sound. 

Above her, beams seem to run parallel to the floor, leaving a small space between them and the  sloped roof. Her lips curl into a slight smile and she leaps up to the nearest one, beginning to jump from one to the next, making her way to the end of the corridor before following one beam along till the outline of the figure becomes a man.

He’s wearing a set of chainmail leather armor, with a sword at his belt. At first glance, he looks normal but, as Riko dispels the enhancements to her vision, she notices his eyes are almost fully shut and his head seems to be bobbing slightly. Her hand loosens on the hilt of her dagger, which it had moved to out of instinct.  _ Let me help you with that.  _ “V'dri.” She whispers the words and blows a kiss towards the guard.

After a few seconds, the man’s eyes close tight and he collapses to the floor. Riko takes this opportunity to drop from her oaken perch and to scurry into the room he was pacing outside. 

Inside is a small chest, exactly like the one on the small piece of paper she’s still clutching in her hand. She steps closer to it. “Pahntar.” She waves her hand over the lock as she whispers this, and the lid flips open, revealing a rolled-up piece of paper inside.

“No…” She immediately unrolls it, her face falling as soon as the full page is in view. The words  _ “Sorry Sweetie” _ are written at a slanted angle with the imprint of a pair of lips underneath them. She immediately scrunches the paper into a ball. “Chath.” The ball ignites in her palm, burning till not a scrap of the parchment is left.  _ This isn’t the end. _

“Hey!” A voice calls from behind her.

Another guard stands in the doorway, drawing his sword. Riko’s hand immediately draws her dagger and she springs from her position, gliding through the gap in the door beside his head. Her dagger slices along his throat as she passes. He doesn’t even have a chance to fully draw his blade, he collapses to the ground, dead at her feet. 

“I didn’t want to have to do that… sorry.” She pauses for a few seconds before springing to the beams she was traversing before.  _ When I find that ashen-haired girl, I’m going to make her pay. _ She quickly darts back towards the window she’d used as an entrance, diving through it just as more shouts can be heard from inside the building. 

“Hello, sweetie.” The words cut like knives just as she lands. and she barely has time to spin around before feeling cold steel pressing against her throat. “Looking for me?”

It’s the first time Riko has truly seen the ashen-haired girl up close. The girl’s hair is shoulder length and would be beautiful if not for the black specs of dirt that come from living in the streets. The girl’s blue eyes are right up close to her own amber ones and she can see the excitement in them. She’s dressed in a set of leather armor that hugs her body and shows her every curve. If it weren’t for the knife to her throat and the history they share, Riko might’ve found her attractive.

“Oh, cat got your tongue?” The girl’s free hand moves to Riko’s free wrist. “Kly'tak.” Something tightens around the skin of her wrist before snaking to encapture her other one, pulling them together behind her back. “Aww… I was expecting much more of a fight from you, Twelve.”

Riko stays silent for a couple more seconds before jumping backward, kicking her feet upwards to attempt to kick the girl in the face as her body spins into a backflip. Though her feet find no purchase, she takes the opportunity to cut the bindings and free her hands, which instantly move to her dagger.

The girl springs forward her blade clashing against Riko’s. Their blades stay locked for a few seconds as they stare into each other’s eyes, waiting for a sign of weakness. “Su'aco.”

Riko feels a gust of wind hit her gut.  _ Shit. How could I let my guard down?  _ Her back slams against the nearby building and she feels the wind get knocked out of her.

“Now, are you going to come nicely, or do I get to have more fun?” The ashen-haired girl steps closer, her blade twisting in her palm.

“Chath!” Riko screams and the crates around her burst into flames, causing the other girl to jump back, giving Riko the few seconds she needs to regain her footing. 

“Su'aco.” Another gust of wind blows the worst of the flames away and, through the smoke, the girl leaps at Riko, her dagger poised to strike.

There is a clash of steel on steel as their blades collide once more. Riko jumps back to avoid falling for the same trick. The girl leaps forward once more, leading with her feet and causing Riko to do another jump backward. “Nothing personal, my employer’s aims just seemed to align with my own want for revenge.”

“ _ Your _ need for revenge?” Riko looks at the girl for a second, but before she can do anything else, a pair of hands grab her wrists and shove her against the wall.

“I’d love to stay and chat…” The girl wanders up to her side. “But it seems my work here is done.” She presses a kiss to Riko’s cheek. “I hope I don’t have to see you aga-” She’s cut off by a hand clasping over her mouth. It’s the last thing Riko sees before something hard hits her head, knocking her out cold.

\-----

The first thing Riko registers is a throbbing pain in her head, the second is the metal bands around her wrists. She pulls at them but all she hears is the clattering of what sound like chains. “Zahanzon.” She mutters the words under her breath in case a guard is in earshot, but nothing happens, her vision doesn’t change, and she’s left stuck in the darkness of whatever prison she’s been chained up in.

“It won’t work. I’ve tried everything.” A voice calls from her left, causing Riko to turn her head in the direction. She can just make out the outline of a girl and after a few seconds, she recognizes the ashen hair of the one who’s been causing her all this trouble.

“What are  _ you _ doing here?” Riko spits in the girl’s general direction.

“They set me up. They wanted me to track you down, so they could capture us both.” She sighs and rests her head back against the wall. “To think I’d get tricked by such a simple thing. Revenge does make us blind, doesn’t it Twelve.”

Riko feels a shiver run down her spine at the sound of her old code name. “What revenge could you possibly want, Four?” Riko turns her head away from the girl, not wanting to see her face when her eyes adjust to the darkness. “I’m not the one who betrayed everyone and left their friends to die.”

“What are you talking about? You were the ones who left  _ me _ to die.” Chains rattled from Four’s general direction. “I was doing us all a favor. If I hadn’t gone after Mother, then she’d have sent hundreds of guards after us. Then, when I get back, I find you all gone, deserting me and leaving me to survive on my own in those icy mountains.”

“We tried to tell you, killing Mother would have done nothing to help us. All she wanted was to save her own skin.” Riko takes a deep breath. “You were the only one in a state to defend yourself and you just left us in the middle of a burning building.” 

“We had a meeting point arranged!” 

“We were forced to hide in a cave for hours!” Riko spits again, in front of her this time. “Do you really think we could choose where to go if we had no one to protect us? We had to find somewhere out of sight as soon as we could. You never did think about the bigger picture Four, you just focused on yourself and what would bring you the most glory.” Riko’s eyes start to water. “Well congratulations, you killed all your friends with your  _ selfless act _ . I was the only person who managed to make it.”

Four is silent. The only sound that fills the room is the sounds of drops of water falling from Riko’s cheeks and hitting the ground below her. 

“Do you know how hard it is to watch the people around you freeze or starve, all because they’re too weak to continue on?” Riko’s hands curl into fists and she pulls at the chains once more, earning nothing other than the sounds of rattling filling the room.

“I…” The sound of Four’s voice causes Riko to look over at her. “I’m sorry.”

Riko stares at her, her eyes able to see her features well now after spending so much time in the dim light. 

“I guess… I was just thinking of myself.” Her eyes are closed now. “After your arm broke… and the others… I just didn’t want anything else to be able to hurt us. So, I just wanted to get rid of the thing that’d caused us the most trouble. I never thought about what would happen if I left you to yourselves.” She starts to smile. “All these years of planning my revenge, wondering how to exact it on every one of you… all lies because I didn’t want to admit my own mistakes.”

Riko feels herself smile. “When I saw you were alive… my first reaction was joy. I wanted to be with you again, I remembered the good times we had, how we trained with each other, we even shared our beds some nights. But then I remembered what happened… what you did, and it just felt like my heart had been broken a second time.” Her tears stop falling into the small puddle underneath her chains. “It’d been so long since I saw a face I loved... the heartbreak just felt even worse the second time.”

Four’s eyes were locked on her, a mix of pain and regret in them. “I-” She starts but Riko shakes her head.

“Hearing your side of the story… it’s… it’s made me remember why we were partners and why I…” She pauses, taking a deep breath in. “Why I loved you…” She starts to cry again. “You were always so proud. You were proud to be top of the class, you were proud to be at the Academy in the first place, and you were proud to call me your lover.” Her lips curl into a smile. “I guess… the experiences as we fled… they soured that image of you. Turned the pride into a sense of egoism.”

“Twelve… when we get out of here… I promise to never leave your side again.” Four’s own eyes are crying now. “We can work together, go anywhere we want together… we’ll just be together. Nothing will tear us apart.”

Something flashes into Riko’s mind as she hears this.  _ Tear… _ One of Mother’s lessons replays in her head.  _ “Despite all my training, one day you may find yourselves captured and, if they have any right mind, they’ll limit the magic in the area. However, you will never truly be without magic. With the power that I have given you. You will always have a way out.” _ Her smile grows. “Four! We can use our tears!”

When Four looks at her with furrowed brows she just smirks. “Niar xilii.” The puddle below her starts to float in the air before it spins into a disk and slicing through the chains that attached her to the wall. She quickly does the same with the chains around the other girl’s wrists before running over to her and pulling the girl into her arms. 

“Twelve!” Fours arms are tight around her, making up for years of lost time. 

“Riko… I go by Riko now” Riko pulls away slightly to look Four in the eyes. “I dropped the numbers as soon as I was out of the Academy.”

“Riko…” Four smiles. “I like it. It suits you.” The anger that had been present in her eyes earlier has vanished. “You… that’s my name now.”

“Well then, You… shall we get out of here?” Riko feels her body warm at the touch that she finally realizes she’s been missing for years.

“Yes… but first…” You’s hand slides from behind her back to cup her cheek and almost instantly after, she’s pressing her lips against Riko’s. 

Riko doesn’t have time to close her eyes before the kiss starts but almost immediately after she feels herself relax and let the sensation wash over her.  _ I’ve missed this… I’ve missed her… I’ve missed… everything. _

They break apart shortly after and turn towards the door to their cell. “Race?” You winks at her.

Riko’s lips curl into a smile. “I’m not the weakling I was back then.”

“Good… then you’ll only be a minute behind me.”

There was no countdown or anything, the two just knew and sprinted towards the exit to the cell, both muttering “Q'elak” under their breaths.


End file.
